Algeria/China Sign Major Agreement

Algeria's state oil and gas company Sonatrach, and the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), have signed an oil/gas cooperation agreement. The agreement covers several areas, including hydrocarbon exploration and production, oil and gas treatment, pipeline transport,and exchange of information in technology.

The two sides agreed to set up a steering committee to head the evaluation of joint projects by the two companies in Algeria, China and in third countries.

China is already involved in Algeria with two major projects - theZarzaitine project, where CNPC is investing more than 500 million dollars to carry out secondary oil recovery - and a refinery at Adrar, worth 200 million dollars, where CNPC is an associate of Sonatrach's.